Questions from those who are just starting or considering getting into the ant keeping hobby. If you’re intimidated or confused by the in-depth posts of the other sections of this forum, feel free to post here, and we'll start from square one!

Because of AntsCanada my wife and I are now trying to start our own Camponotus colony. Finding a queen every day or two has been easy due to my job in an open wood shop(we keep all the doors open during warmer months). However many queens I spot are curled up and/or caked in sawdust. Most found like this are still alive when I place them in temporary test tubes I jury rigged at work, but are very slow, sluggish and tend to sit against the water plug (cotton) for my shift. Is there anything more I can do to help them out or just let nature take its course?